I used to work 3 miles from home. In this situation I either road my bike or drove my Honda Fit, allowing me to run errands at lunch and generally be flexible. Our offices have recently moved and I now take the train to Wilmington, DE every day. This has forced me (for better) to plan much better and consolidate errand trips. The problem is that there are still times I need to go out at lunch. For example I needed to go-to the DMV to get my wife’s car title re-printed. They are only open during the day, but with no car to get there I was stuck.
Thats when I noticed the Philly Car Share car at the Wilmington train station. I then signed up for this service. They have two options. One that has no monthly payment, but higher per hour rates or one that has a $15 monthly payment, but lower per hour rates. I signed up for the free account. About a week later I received my electronic key in the mail.
Once I received my key I logged onto the web site. Reserved the car for lunch time. The next day I walked out, opened the car, adjusted the mirrors and I was off on my way. Went to the DMV, then to Wawa, and back to the train station. It was that easy. If they had cars in Newark, DE then I could easily sell one of our family’s cars.
I don’t know what I expected, but as a computer professional I had at least expected this to be more difficult then it was. I strongly recommend this service even if just for the occasional use.
Hats off to Philly Car Share and to the other car share programs out there.